Crawford's defense, and especially its special teams, created and kept the field position advantage throughout. The cumulative effect of staring out the bottom of a well on offense and playing defense in the shadow of its own goal post gave Canadian no room for error. Two fourth-quarter turnovers led to Crawford's 24-13 win at the Mustang Bowl.

"When you've got the situation where you've got a long field, you don't want to make mistakes and you get conservative on offense," Canadian coach Kyle Lynch said. "We had a lot of trouble moving the ball in the first half. But then again, we played some outstanding defense in the first half. But having to do that for as long as we did wears you out."

The average starting point of Crawford's offensive possessions was midfield. Canadian's average starting point for offensive possessions was its own 21.

Of Canadian's 12 drives, the Wildcats started 80 or more yards from the end zone on seven of them. Canadian's best spot after winning possession was twice at its own 36.

Crawford often started on the downhill side of the 50. Crawford started 8 of its 12 drives on the Canadian side of the field. Crawford's worst starting point was its own 28.

"It was kind of taxing to keep starting off like that," Canadian defensive end-running back Auston English said.

"It seemed like every time we had to be conservative and try to power it out of there. We couldn't really work the whole field like we should have. But it was hard on both offense and defense. It might have taken some of our energy away at the end."

Canadian's defense kept the Wildcats in the game in the first half. Despite having an average starting field position of its own 49, Crawford only scored three points in the first half.

Canadian forced four punts, stopped one penetration on downs at the Wildcat 11 and forced a 28-yard field goal by Shawn Fulwider.

But Canadian could not turn that defensive success into offensive momentum. Crawford's B.J. Christian averaged 36 yards on five punts. Fulwider banged three kickoffs through the end zone and a Wildcat slip on a kickoff return forced Canadian to start another drive at its own 4-yard line.

"We were able to get out from our hole and put them in one," Crawford coach Robert Murphy said.

"When you've got that kind of field position it limits their offense and gives you more freedom on defense. Our special teams did a great job of getting kicks down there and our coverage team did a great job of pinning them."

Canadian's average field possession in the first half was its own 14. Although that mark improved slightly in the second half, it could not change the complexion of the game.

"That was all B.J. and Shawn. They've been doing that all year. They're great at pinning offenses back and making them take a long field," Crawford running back-linebacker Derek Dumas said. "It really helps us on defense because you know they're going to get conservative and you don't have to worry about a lot of their plays. You know they're going to try to power the ball out so you can concentrate on stopping that."

Even Canadian's scoring drives started deep in its own end. Canadian's first score game on a 64-yard touchdown pass from Bryant Brock to Tony Livingston.

The play gave Canadian a 6-3 lead with 8:56 left in the third period.

The Wildcats' next score came at the end of a 15-play, 80-yard drive. Brock and Livingston hooked up for a 9-yard touchdown pass and the Wildcats led 13-10 with 10:32 left in the fourth period.